Each of the school's 40 classrooms is fitted with a television monitor, allowing the principal to address the student body via video broadcast, and permitting other internally generated programs to be viewed.

The system also is used to distribute many television channels received via local broadcast or cable TV systems.

"The watchword in the world of communications today is 'convergence,'" says Tony Beam, director of systems marketing for Tyco Electronics. "We are migrating from a world in which each form of communication is carried over its own specialized network to a future world in which all forms of communication will eventually be carried over a single, unified, 'converged' network.

"Clayton Heights Secondary School's use of AMP Netconnect Enhanced Category 5 cabling to distribute video throughout the school is a perfect example of this convergence phenomenon. It illustrates how modern data-grade UTP cabling systems can be put to a multiplicity of uses-in this case, both video and data communications."

School principal Earl Kosty said he wanted to put such a system in place, but due to funding limits, the school district could not fund the installation of coaxial cabling, which is normally used for video distribution. His search for alternative technology led him to Z-Band Inc.'s (www.Z-Band.com) Multimedia Distribution System, which can transport video over the same high-quality UTP cabling that is used for data networks.

"When I saw the system up and running in demonstrations, it was what I felt the school should have," Kosty said. "I think all schools should have something of this nature."